A threat to iPhone? Don't think so; not yet!

My GS3 will NOT recognize my sister's last name, FIKE. Was told today, by Samsung Chat Support, to change her last name. :blink:Changed it to 'PIKE' and it worked. No fix! Is this acceptable? I don't think so. Love the phone except for S-Voice. Her voice is beyond annoying and she doesn't understand half of what I tell her. And being able to talk to my phone is a priority to me. Contacted Samsung Chat Support today. Here is 'most' of the chat transcript:

Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond.
Visitor: Is there a way to 'train' S-Voice? It will not recognize my sister (in my contacts. I am using a bluetooth device.
Visitor: Just tried without bluetooth. Absolutely will NOT recognize her name. 'Laurie Fike' ???Shirly: I will be glad to assist you.
Shirly: Please try to make some changes in the name and then check with the result.
Visitor: okayShirly: Please let me know the status of S Voice.
Visitor: I renamed her
Visitor: Laurie 'Pike' instead of 'Fike' and it worked! LOLShirly: Okay.
Visitor: But her name is Fike !Shirly: I do understand you concern.
Visitor: Waiting for Jellybean and a fix for this.Shirly: Samsung will soon announce which additional devices are eligible for the Jelly Bean update. As the world’s largest Smartphone manufacturer, Samsung leads the Android community with best-in-class devices like the Galaxy S III, and is creating new device categories with products like the Galaxy Note. Samsung has delivered the most Nexus-branded lead OS devices and we are pleased that Google will be bringing Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S customers the first experiences of Jelly Bean on a handheld device
Shirly: *Samsung
Visitor: Is my phone a 'Nexus' phone?Shirly: No, it is Samsung SIII.
Visitor: Well, I hope my phone gets the upgrade soon. I am not very happy with S-Voice. Is there anything I can do to fix the problem with my sister's name? Seems ridiculous to me that it can't hear an 'F' sound.Shirly: I do understand your concern, but the parser in the S-voice are set to such that there are few words which are silent when used.Visitor: So, you are saying that her last name, FIKE, is a word that S-Voice can't recognize?
Shirly: Yes, you are correct.:blink:
Visitor: Sirri understands it, motorola understands it. If I were Samsung, I would not be proud of that. Do you think think the JellyBean upgrade will address this?
Visitor: I'm thinking about taking my Galaxy back. Don't want to. But my goodness! that is crazy!Shirly: We are unable to speculate when/if this software revision might be available due to the fact that this might lead to inaccurate information and confusion.
Visitor: I do understand that. So, there is nothing to do to fix this; right?Shirly: I am afraid. Yes.
Visitor: Willl you pass this on?Shirly: I will report this to the Samsung Global Support.
Visitor: Very unhappy. My sister was thinking about getting the GalaxyS3 too. But I know she won't if it can't even recognize her last name. Thanks for your help.Shirly: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
Visitor: no, thanksShirly: It was a pleasure assisting you. Thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. If you have a minute, please click on the blue “X close” button to receive a transcript of your chat and fill out a brief survey to help us serve you better. Have a wonderful day!
Chat Information Chat session has been terminated by the Samsung Agent.

Thanks, Mark. And Caesar, I really WANT to keep this phone. It is amazing, in so many ways. But I want it to be able to hear what I say; that is all. And when it does, I will be the biggest cheerleader at the game! Any help from any of you would be appreciated. I was thinking about how the wake up command has to be 3-5 syllables. Maybe commands need to be 3-5 syllables? Probably not; just trying to think of anything. I deleted a bunch of contacts that I don't use, thinking that might help. Also, Mark, is the voice recognition progressive? By progressive, I mean, will my GS3 'learn' my voice patterns? Will it get smarter, in that way, the longer that I have it? And before everyone gets all upset, I am the DROID person, in my family. They all have iPhones and think Sirri is a modern day Athena! I KNOW my Razr Maxx was a better phone than the iPhone. And I KNOW that the GS3 will be THE phone that sets the mark, once it gets the kinks worked out.

As far as I know, it will "learn " your voice.
Over the years of using different voice recognition programs and apps I've learned each has its quirks. Am I willing to work within the quirks? Never while driving. I just ignore my phone when I'm driving because it's too distracting to me to even attempt anything else. Accents can wreak havoc. I speak with a southern drawl to the dislike of any voice recognition service I've used. Ex.to get a response to a yes or no, I have say jes instead of yes and nooooo instead of no.
I wonder since Fike is so close to so many possible profane alternatives if it was intentionally done by accident. Perhaps there is a search setting/filter you could loosen up a little ? I'm not familiar enough with your model to suggest where to look.

Can you email or write Samsung support or open a ticket? You might have a better chance of getting answers from behind first line support. There may be an acceptable work around or something like that. There might be something physical you could do or try. At least you might get a better (more technical) explanation. I would be skeptical that "fike" is being recognized completely and on some discard/ignore list? I would expect other similar sounding words to be in there like "find", so what is it about "fike"? May not solve the problem but it would be interesting to understand.

Can you email or write Samsung support or open a ticket? You might have a better chance of getting answers from behind first line support. There may be an acceptable work around or something like that. There might be something physical you could do or try. At least you might get a better (more technical) explanation. I would be skeptical that "fike" is being recognized completely and on some discard/ignore list? I would expect other similar sounding words to be in there like "find", so what is it about "fike"? May not solve the problem but it would be interesting to understand.

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Thanks for at least trying to understand. I find it fascinating too; although more aggravating! I just want my voice dialing to work. That's all. I want to keep the phone; it is so big and bright and advanced in every other way. It is laughable (really,) the preposterous replies I get from S-Voice. Just insane. I asked to 'Call Rite Aid Pharmacy' She came back with, get this, 'I can do an internet search for CALL RITE AID PHARMACY!!!' :crazy:Why didn't she just call? I'm afraid I'm going to see about getting the Razr Maxx Monday. Don't want to. Maybe I'll try your advice. How long do I have to return phone?

It's an annoyance, but it seems like a pretty small issue, especially if you like the phone and everything else.

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It is certainly NOT a small issue to me. It's not just an annoyance. It is THE deciding factor on any mobile phone. Voice dialing and using my bluetooth are necessities for me. I understand that it may not be for everyone. But for me; it is.

Found a great app; Cyberon Voice Commander. It works! It doesn't have as many commands as S-Voice. But I can now make calls and receive calls without ever touching my phone! :icon_ banana: Am getting ready to do a backup, hard reset of phone and hard reset of Jawbone Headset. Cyberon Voice might have just saved this Samsung customer! Yeah!

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